Food Netwrok is tapping Atlanta for desserts. Local pastry chef Jon’nae “Jaye” Smith will compete on season 11 of Food Network’s Spring Baking Championship. This follows season 10, when Atlanta pastry chef Nickey Boyd was a finalist on the show.

“When I got the call, I remember running out into the living room, and I leaped so high, I could’ve flown through the roof,” says Smith, who grew up watching Food Network shows with her father, an avid cook.

“I got into baking out of curiosity,” says Smith. “I remember I made a dense cake, and I didn’t know why that cake was coming out so hard. Like, why are we eating rocks?”

That curiosity led her to culinary school at Johnson and Wales University in 2017. Since graduating, Smith has worked in and around Atlanta as a pastry chef, including at Canoe under pastry chef Jennifer Paul, the Loews Hotel, the Hill at Serenbe, and with executive chef Demetrius Brown (also a Hill at Serenbe alum) on supper clubs at Bread and Butterfly. Smith began her baking career by interning at the Four Seasons in Atlanta and then at Disney’s Four Seasons in 2017. She is part of The New South, a collective of Black chefs who host dinners around Atlanta. She does not make dense cakes anymore.

“It’s been overwhelming to receive the amount of support I’ve been receiving from my peers,” says Smith. “I’m so grateful for my community. I consider it a luxury.”

Chef Smith loves “drama”

Though she wasn’t allowed to reveal dish details from the show, Smith has a distinct baking style.

“I like flavors from the Caribbean or the South — I love mago. Crunch is a big feel for me — a crumble, a twill, a cookie, or a macaron,” says Smith. “I’m a sauce girl for life. Even if it tastes good without a sauce, no girl, put the sauce on there. I use a lot of infused chantilly, especially with alcohol. And then drama. I love drama.”

Smith says her culinary training at Disney prepared her for speed, volume, and accuracy on delivering thousands of plated desserts. But even that didn’t prepare her for the time restraint on the show’s challenges.

“Filming on the show was a blur. You’ve got to put an eight-hour shift into an hour and a half to do the challenge,” says Smith.

Plus, Smith says, the pantry on the show lacked a key ingredient. “There could’ve been a better variety of types of chocolates. It wasn’t the best,” says Smith, laughingly. “And the heavy cream wasn’t great.”

As for judges’ critiques, Smith says she got one token of advice she will carry with her throughout her career.

“A pinch of salt,” says Smith. “A pinch of salt goes a long way.”

The new season of Spring Baking Championship will premiere on Food Network on March 10 at 8 p.m. ET.